(CNN) – The movement may not have changed the world, but ‘Occupy’ started a conversation.

On the one year anniversary of the start of the protests, the original organizers say that's all they wanted to do.

Marisa Holmes took part in the early planning for the protest. She was among the 100 or so people who 'occupied' New York's Zuccotti Park by sleeping there that first night.

[3:34] "Most of us didn't think that the 17th would amount to anything. I certainly didn't think that it would amount to anything. I mean I had all these hopes and dreams that it would. But I thought surely the police were going to shut it down immediately."

Richard Machado has also been a part of 'Occupy' since day one.

[3:15] "We didn't know what was going to happen. You know, it just took off so quickly and spontaneously."

'Occupy Wall Street' mushroomed after that first night and inspired hundreds of similar encampments around the country. But the leaderless movement lacked a focused message. It was often criticized for not having a list of demands. Holmes says that was by design.

[3:06] "We just couldn't imagine what a one demand would be. I mean there are so many possible demands. How do we ever demand anything of Wall Street? What would they give is that we would want?"

'Occupiers,' as they call themselves, will mark the one year anniversary of their movement with protests and meetings around New York's Financial District and across the country. Holmes says they may not be as visible as they once were but she claims the movement is growing.

[7:57] "I think we're building the roots of a long term struggle. I mean I would be foolish to think that... fundamental structural change, that any kind of revolution, could happen in a matter of months in a park."

What are your thoughts on the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement one year later? Listen to the complete story above and join the conversation below.

soundoff(165 Responses)

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These "Wall Street OccupANTS" crack me the F&$K up! they are still around?? Folks, if you want to be taken seriously in anything you protest, STOP looking like you belong in a skateboard park!! Not saying you have to wear a suit, but at least some pressed chinos and a collared shirt will make me resist the temptation of just shoving you out of the way in the latte line.

The majority of the OWS people are children of the upper class that have been in and out of school all of their lives paid for by their parents. Now that their 15 years of college have not gotten them anything except a liberal arts degree they have decided that the government needs to take care of them since their parents have given up on them doing anything other that bitch about others that have it better.

I could not agree with you more Dan. If these kids want to be taken seriously in their protest...show up wearing clothes that would lend themselves to you being taken seriously rather than mistaken for a skateboarder in the freaking park!!

CNN is still pumping this organization? Really? After all the burning, destruction, recklessness, anarchists, drug use and violence? Anything but get a real job. Really? This is what CNN stands for? People want this for the country?

II honestly just signed up for my absentee ballot as I reside outside of the country. In no way do the people that came before us and those yet to come deserve this

For those of you who "can't believe so many people are against OWS," and we must be puppets, shills, or the 1%, I have news for you:

We do feel that way. Those of us who work hard to make ends meet who have to pick are way around garbage and people lining the streets who are not working feel that way. I feel that way because I work 40 hours a week to pay for a place to live, food to eat, a car to drive 20 miles to work, to pay my student loans, and to make purchases that will make my life more enjoyable, and that leaves me no time to stand on a street corner drinking a latte and Skyping my protest anticts over an iPad while wearing a flannel shirts and non-prescription hispter glasses from Urban Outfitters. She spent how much time planning this with others from the beginning? Does she have a job? How much of that time could have been put towards sending out applications? Have they looked for jobs in the year since? I would feel more for these people if they understood that the majority of us, while we're not happy with Wall Street business most of the time, support ourselves. I've worked three jobs at once to support myself. I'd have much more respect for them if they did the same. I'd also have much more respect for them if they understood that despite their unhappiness, they are still some of the most priviledged and lucky people in the world. 80% of us in the middle don't have time for OWS nonsense because we have to take care of ourselves. And because I do work so hard for what I have, I certainly don't want to hand it off to THEM. I am not the 1%, but OWS does not represent me. In fact, I think the majority of the "99%" feel that way.

I just don't get it. They really just act like they deserve something for nothing. There will always be rich people (some greedy, some not.), middle classed, and poor (some lazy, some not.). Without those 1% they keep harping on, we would all be poor.

this comment is directed to "JOHN". I find it funny that someone would get upset with someone for calling someone ignorant and then claim that "most occupiers have jobs, thank you". I think its pretty safe to say thats not true. I live in Oakland and had the misfortune of viewing these grass killing campers up close and they dont have jobs, if they did they would be there. If you "JOHN" have the job you claim to have than you're the 1% of the occupiers and there is no one on earth that is more pathetic and IGNORANT than you, all you do is run cover for criminals. thank you

The Green? Oh, how terrible! No one can use the green! (except Americans who are protesting corruption and greed).
If anyone felt displaced by the Occupiers, they could have gone to several other green areas in NYC.

"...thank you for your sacrifice"? What is that??? You say that to people who've earned it, like our military personnel serving overseas, or our firefighters and police officers, not a bunch of complainers who disrupt other peoples lives because they're unhappy with their own. If I had to make a guess, I'd say most don't have jobs, and most probably aren't looking that hard too either. My family isn't part of the 1%, and we've had their fare share of problems too. My family worked their way from poverty to upper-middle class. But they NEVER blamed their problems on other people. When they couldn't make ends meet, they got another job. I promise you, there are jobs out there. But because it doesn't meet the occupiers criteria, they'll just keep taking government handouts instead of trying to support themselves. What you're thanking them for is laziness, and it's definitely not something you should "sacrifice" for.

I see people against OWS as puppets or paid posters. People really can't feel this way. Maybe they love this new economy because thier entire lifes pinnacle has been medioctrity. Now that everybodys been knocked down a couple rungs on the ladder and they managed to stay in the same place in thier life at or below average doesn't look so bad

These two are true Americans. They helped to organize a movement based on their beliefs. I joined in a couple of the marches, including the March on the Banks. I work full time and have no benefits. I have never taken money from anyone other than my employer. But if I have any serious medical bills, I will lose my car and won't be able to pay my rent. Then I won't be able to go to work. We need universal health care. The only people against this are those who are privileged. They don't understand poverty or hard times because they have never lived it. They think hard times is not being able to afford cable or a new car.

OF ALL THE PROBLEMS IN AMERICA ?? GREED –JOB OUTSOURCING IS OUR # 1 PROBLEM. FREE TRADE ONLY BENEFIT THE TOP 10 % . THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES MAKING MONEY. THE LOWER 50 % OF AMERICANS ARE POOR TODAY , WHY ? JOB OUTSOURCING.

I've worked three jobs to support myself. Stop assuming those of us who don't like the movement are "priviledged" and don't know what it's like to be poor. I lived without benefits after school and had bills build up. I worked hard and moved up. And I still make less than you.

I have been working full-time continuously since 1982. Nevertheless, if you really don't see that there is a growing problem with the financial resources are controlled and parsed out in our society then you are not really looking.The disparity between rich and poor is widening and the middle class is shrinking. Allowing emotions to overwhelm reason is a sure road to disaster for all of us

One look at those two losers in the photo explains a great deal. Too bad they never had a message other than "gimme, gimme, gimme". They, like the rest of the liberal morons who followed them are looking for nothing more than a free ride on the backs of those who used their brains to achieve financial success. But isn't that what welfare recipients do nearly all the time?

The should have called it the Squat On Wallstreet (SOW) movement. It has a more appropriate acronym.

Hey First of All! never Ever call a Liberal a moron. Second These are the Ninety Nine Pecerters who are mad at the top 2% that get off Scott Free. First of of never call someone that. You will get it right back at you. Its called Karma. I believe in the Ninety Eight Percent of People have the right to tell you off also. As You side put Why don't you go get a Job!

In covering Occupy over the last year it's been my experience that there are many people in the workplace who are sympathetic to some of the rallying cries of the movement, i.e.: reinstate Glass-Steagall, enact sweeping and effective campaign finance reform, enforce Dodd-Frank, overturn the Citizens United decision, reform government so that it is putting the interests of the people first, etc.. But I think there has been a disconnect over the last year between those who rally behind those issues and the process adhered to by the core members of the movement, this 'direct-democracy' consensus building. When I speak with/interview people who are at the center of the movement, the people who organize on a daily basis, I repeatedly hear a rejection of any push to reform our government/political system through traditional methods. There is a loud call for a real revolution among the devoted Occupy organizers/activists. @ momshieb – Are people like your sons willing to go that far, to throw out the baby with the bath water, or do they want to reform the system from within? I'm curious. Critics who are sympathetic to Occupy have argued that by choosing to go the route of consensus building and not having a list of achievable goals Occupy has squandered an opportunity effect real change. Thoughts?

As a reporter, you should know then that in this country, our nation, the winds of war are blowing, and though ever so gently, those winds are gaining momentum.

I see and talk to people who are stockpiling ammunition, waiting for the day when it all congeals... a movement to put an end to liberal dissolution of our nation, our Constitution, and what many refer to as the "American Dream". And I can't blame them. Their general feeling is if not by ballot, then by bullet they will take their nation back. Liberals would be wise to reel themselves in a bit, before they find the blood of their own flowing in the streets. It can happen. It happened once before in our nation.

There is also an individual responsibility we all have, to conduct ourselves in an adult-like and responsible manner, while obeying the laws of the land – and not breaking them to "make our point". OWS people have demonstrated they are seldom capable of either adult or responsible behavior, as reported by your own media.

The Occupy movement was and is nothing more than irresponsible people attempting to look responsible and important. They are irrelevant. The masses they claim to represent have distanced themselves from these petty radicals. Yes, some are sympathetic, but marginally so. And most know squatting is NOT how to bring about effective change for our nation.

Wow. Bro, I would honestly get some help for that...no thanks to your bullet-studded apocalypse doom thing. Sorry you don't like progressives, but hey, kids these days...sometimes they want to see bankers and fossil fuel polluters go to jail for their crimes. smh. whatcha gonna do?

It would sem that the reason that the Occupiers went the way of concensus building is that they never had any kind of primary goal. They were mostly a diverse group of malconents with a laundry list of complaints. They were less like a movement and more like a 3 ring circus with many acts, each trying to out-do the other. This left the ring-masters (moderators) with the unenviable task of trying to build a movement out of carload of clowns, thus the sudden need to sit down and build a concensus about what they represented. Unfortunately, as a group, they represented nothing, each clown had a different face, so there was no concensus to build

I am an attorney and documentary filmmaker who has been an organizer and member of Ows media since last October.
The large majority of people that I have spoken to at OWS support public campaign financing to remove private money from politics so that we can reverse the transfer of money from the 99% to the multinational corporations and the wealthiest Americans. They support fair taxation where the corporations and wealthy pay at least the same effective tax rate as the middle class by ending tax shelters, loopholes, subsidies and initiating a small financial transaction tax
that would generate more than 500 billion dollars a year that could close the budget deficit. They support a decrease in military spending and using that money for free preschool through college education and rebuilding our infrastructure with a green grid that would create millions of jobs and save many lives from pollution related diseases. The economist Jeffry Sachs is a big occupy supporter and backs this plan of action as do day one occupiers that I know. They also support reenacting glass steigel so that our economy won't be at risk for another financial crisis because the banks are now bigger than ever, heavily leveraged and still committing massive fraud as indicative in the libor scandal. An attorney at a major law firm that represents big banks says the only way the banking crimes will stop is when there is real accountability and the bankers who commit fraud go to jail. I have documented all of this in an upcoming film
"occupy wall street: we are the 99% that I hope will convey that occupy is a post partisan movement that reaches all backgrounds and age groups, raising critical issues and offers solutions for a more just, sustainable, prosperous and democratic future based on fairness and equal opportunity.

I personally would like us to fix the system from within. But to do that we need to elect a lot of people willing to make those changes. Another problem is once you have that many people how many are going to actually remain loyal to reform? The lobbyists who have their own interests at heart are going to find ways to gain the support of these new elected officials. Do we take them along with us or kick them all out of capital hill?
There would need to be at least 60% of both the house and senate to be willing to cooperate in conducting major reform otherwise we probably wouldn't be able to pass legitimate legislation without having to go back to the old "making deals to get bills passed" system. Plus things in the constitution would need to be amended which will require overwhelming support from the mass majority of states and we would need to figure out how to get rid of some acts so we probably would need someone in the presidency as well.

The "easy" way would be clean up the capital with force and rebuild from there but even that would require overwhelming support. The largest problem is a lot of people don't care. People especially younger people would rather pay attention to their facebook page or what some hollywood floozy is doing instead of fixing the government.
So I think government is just going to push the public's buttons and one day we will all wake up and riot. That is unless those in power finally figured out a way to stop the vicious cycle of revolution.

Yes, they should be putting forth more solidified issues so resolutions can be sought for the issues. Pointing out the problems isn't enough – solutions need to be offered so direction can be made and taken.

Why don't they go and occupy the foreign embassies and consulates of countries like Mexico, China, India and Pakistan that lobby relentlessly to keep the immigration pipeline open? The stupid occupiers should know by now that immigration, both legal and illegal is seriously hurting American workers in all job categories. Why are they ignoring this vital issue? In fact, why is Barack Obama ignoring how much immigration is hurting American workers of all races?

The occupiers would do well to watch the CNN iReport "What Are You Having For Dinner?" (http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-841931) and learn from it. Obama himself has had zero $40,000 a plate dinners with poor people . . . (in fact, they aren't even allowed near these dinners).

EVERY quote in this article from the "occupy" lamers, basically says the same thing. We didn't know what we were doing. We still don't know what were doing. We will never know what were doing. But were SOOOOOO proud that we are doing it.
I can see why Oblamea and Pelgrossi backed this movement. It sounds exactly like their agendas. Or is it agendi? : )

So if you are successful your opinion doesn't matter??? yet if you are a worthless whiner that doesn't want to get a job and work hard to raise your standard of living you somewhow know what is best for this country. Sounds like the current occupant of the White House that has never had a real job. The Occupy Movement is such a bunch of nonesense and the only people outside of the creeps directly involved in it that support it are the liberals that want to see us turn into a socialist society. If the Occupy scum think there is a lot of corporate corruption now it would only get worse with the government agencies and selected busineses that support them under a socialist goverment. Just look at the countries where socialism and communism have failed and that will tell you how idiotic the entire platform is.

@John – I presume you wouldn't want to be judged based upon your appearance. How about we stick to whether or not Occupy has accomplished anything and leave the demeaning comments for the schoolyard. But while we're on the topic, while you're seeing images of people who may not look like yourself, who may look dirty and/or homeless, they are not representative of everyone taking party in Occupy protests today. I say that based on my time in Lower Manhattan today and the year I spent reporting on Occupy.

OK, they managed to shut down Americas busiest port, preventing the people that worked there from supporting their families, they managed to rape and rob the residents of their own encampments, they costs their hosting municipalities millions of tax dollars in clean up and security.
Are these the kind of accomplishments that we should consider?

Whether the 60's or today, the protesters are young, probably not working, living with mom & dad, wet behind the ears with no life experiences of ups and downs of life, and just sour on the world. Nothing has changed in this respect. When you get a job, pay taxes, and get some experience, then you can protest!

@slaythedonkey – In response to your comment, it's been my experience while covering Occupy over the last year that the younger people involved with the movement have much more radical ideas/intentions. The word revolution is tossed around a lot. Those who have clocked a few more years in life seem to be more inclined to try to reform the system through more traditional means. These are general observations that I've made.

You are crazy... I have a ton of friends that are cops and Most that had to provide security for these knuckleheads that couldn't follow instructions were spending countless hours away from their families sicne most depts throughout the country are cutting back the jobs due to the poor economy. Having barely enough manpower to cover the towns and cities is bad enough, but to work everyday for their entire protest is rediculous, tiresome, and costly. Look at the cost cities that were already struggling paid to keep order.

From what I saw of OWS there were few with general concerns and wanted to better the world we live in and the rest were just uneducated radicals spouting off stuff because they finally had someones attention.

the funny part is where many of the Occupiers still look upon Obama as their hero. He's done precious little to reign in Wall St., has taken more fundraising trips thatn Bush took leading into this second term, and is as deeply entreanched in the pockets of the Left's boogeyman, the so-called "1%", as Romney is. If you're not aware of those facts, well, congratulations on being COMPLETELY fooled.

I am not scared of the boogeyman. I am scared of Ryans ears and Romneys lies. I am also scared of the idiots in congress. the lairs in the white house and the fools in the supreme court. Our system is broken. When is the government going to do something about this!

It's not that they don't have a job. It's just that they suck at it. They are the B and C players who fill out the rank and file of the big corporations they hate.

The rest of us are working to make ourselves rich. I went from poverty to wealth in 5 years with hard work and no handouts. I didn't know we'd be graded on a curve. I guess I should have been doing drugs and blaming others. Sorry.... my mistake.

OK I watched it. The guy who suggested it is definitely high or works with kids all day. That's a dumb idea. Where do you think taxes go? Where do they go now? Certainly not to the people. If you gave $1m of tax to the government, they would hire 10 people to decide where it went and be left with nothing. Anything with the word TAX is the wrong answer.

Dumb people spend money on dumb things so they never have money. That's how it's always worked and always will.

Good for you! I wish I could have done the same! But no one should criticize you for your success, especially the dregs who have no initiative, drive and do not know how to work smart. They are why we have migrant labor jobs!

Unfortunately the people who distrust/dislike the OWS movement and its members always come back to the "jobless hippies" argument. As yourself, I am fully employed. I have also never taken Welfare, Food Stamps, Financial Aid, Unemployment benefits, ect. I also did not vote for Pres. Obama, nor McCain. It's OK to think for yourself, I will admit it might be scary from time to time but in the end, nothing else feels like freedom, true freedom.

Yeah so.. Im a software engineer and work for a corporation too.. and I find your goofy movement full of pretentious self-righteous pr1cks ..After speaking enough times with people like you.. the gist of your message is life is unfair and you want some sort of Socialism and so on.. All you've done is alienate the general public and given the media something to talk about. It's like your a "Rent A Mob". maybe if you start getting violent and start blowing things up and killing people you might get some attention. Might not be the kind you want though.

Well if you're going to bring up G-d at least show some dignity and don't spell it all out. It's Rosh Hashanah, we're crowning G-d King of the Universe today, chosen or not. Go out of your way to cross your ts and dot your is.

Why stop there, they obviously are not human, you should take out all your anger for being pissed on by the wealth elite who decide what candidates you will get to vote for each election. just stomp one of those dirty OWS'ers to death, that would make you feel better about yourself. In fact think how good you would feel if you could find a baby at the protest to stomp to death. Murder them while they are young, that's how to really stomp out hippies, kill the children

It had nothing to do with disagreement, his comment lacked humanity, there was nothing to debate. I was hoping he read my comment and realize I am following his own logic. If that doesn't make him think for a second, probably nothing will. I also realize the chances of them actually caring what someone else wrote was slim to none.

Actually, when it comes to name calling and a total disregard of compassion, see a liberal. Liberal's are all about equality until you respectfully disagree. Then you're a fascist conservative/Republican/Christian.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZj0a-E49lE&w=640&h=390]
A guy working in the white house calls on an underachieving old college buddy, to solve the economy from it’s debt and unemployment troubles. A “fair use” law lets us peruse internet content to reveal the reluctant skibum’s delving into the research, that leads him to an important epiphany for humanity’s future.
On one hand it’s nothing really, a symbolic gesture of a policy tweak, but on the other hand, it’s EVERYTHING! Here’s a fair way to transition forward to where we’re rewarded more for cooperating and creating instead of competing and conquering.
Over a few calls, they debate if an inheritance cap will spark the economy, and make us consider what we’re doing here, whereas the current system makes considering such frivolous things just too impractical. How to best share our gifts? we’re too busy getting by to think about that! How’d we let our life’s purpose get marginalized into irrelevance?
Here's an answer, something specific we can demand, protest for, and adopt ourselves! Spread it around! If this isnt the best answer, at least we’re thinking about what might be. What if we were really just this close to having it work right?
Oh yeah, it's a snowboard flick/Ski movie thing.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZj0a-E49lE&w=640&h=390]

Please don't lump me in with these losers. I am not in the top 1% but I have a decent job(less than $100k/yr), a nice house with 2 Acuras in the garage. Average mpg 15 to 18. The breakdown for this country should be the 1%, 49% which I am part of and 50% which is where these drains on society fall. Get a job and contribute to society instead of holding your hand out and destroying our parks.

compared to the billions of dollars the 1% cost the tax payers? Your argument is weak, you obviously have not thought this out have you? You don't have to agree with the movements dress code to agree that we need to make a change to how much control the Wealthy Elite have in determining our elections. Take our country back for the people instead of sitting on the sidelines bitching about one of our two parties, both bought and paid for by the 1%.

It's not sympathy for the rich. It's a realization that between pride n greed or laziness and gluttony, pride and greed is generally more accepted because at least you went out and did something other than sponging off the masses.

The only thing this "movement" has done is to divide the USA. We will always have a 1% and a 99%. To what degree is the only question. Without the 1%, there would be nothing. Even in socialist France there is the 1%. Even in communist Cuba there is the 1%. I work my butt off every day to get into the 1%. These 2 Occupiers would be happy to be part of the 1%.

Get a job... contribute to our republic... If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem...

Another ignorant person saying to "get a job." Most of us Occupiers have jobs, thanks.

There will always be the wealthy and the rest of us. However, the income disparity does not have to be SO incredibly large that only 1% is truly considered wealthy. It used to not be this way in the US. Read the history of our economic growth. This is the biggest income inequality gap we have ever had in the US, and it continues to grow thanks to our nation's policies of tax cuts and breaks to the rich.

Actually, what the Occupy Movement has done is put a voice to the middle class and point out the vast disparity of those who have access to wealth building through tax loopholes, tax rightoffs, etc. and those who don't. Wall Street vs Main Street.

If the OCCUPY movement really wants to see change, they can affect a "sea change" by volunteering and helping to get out the vote to re-elect President Obama and continue our movement FORWARD. Occupy members can hit the streets and contact voters and encourage neighbors to cast their votes and save themselves from the likes of the TeaParty Taliban in Congress.
Citizens in states, currently under voter suppression, could really use The Occupy Movement's help in making sure all qualified voters actually make it to the polls on election day.
If we don't USE our power to vote, we will LOSE our power to affect the direction of our Nation.
March in the streets and call for all reasonable citizens to VOTE this November 6th!

Lots of hippy comments. These people have nothing to lose and everything to gain. That sounds like pioneer spirit to me. That sounds like revolutionary fighters to me. Only narrow minded rich-wanna-bees are threatened by rebellion against a system that will never provide for them. Brain washed sheeple.

Railing against something does not show pioneering spirit. Creating something new and original where it didn't exist before is true pioneering. Any fool can protest someone else's action. Without an enemy to target your anger towards, what is left in your cause?

Hey f-the-rich, I'm a CPA who regularly works with the rich. I get to see how they beat the system and it's made me cynical. So cynical that I wrote and record a tounge-in-cheek song titled "Estate Tax Blues." In the song, a multi-millionaire is griping, among other things, about not being allowed to weasel out of the estate tax by establishing residency in another country. Check the song out on You Tube. And don't worry, the richer the rich get, the closer we'll be to a revolution (I hope)!

Pioneer spirit? Seriously?!?! the pioneers didn't want to take from those who produced; instead, they sought a way to be producers themselves.

Revolutionaries? Typically, revolutionaries are fighting against something negative (like socialism and communism), not fighting FOR it.

Everyone has to make their own choices in life....and if these people would rather spend their days pining over the FACT that their choices have led them to a dead end (liberal art, women's/racial studies, art degrees, etc...) rather than working hard to be productive, then they have the Freedom to do so. What they should not do; however, is seek to take from those who ARE productive just so that they, themselves, don't have to be.

Get a job hippie scum...the real majority of hard working Americans were sick of your whining last winter. YOU DO NOT REPRESNET THE MAJORITY OF US! Most of the people I witnessed in a nearby major city during the occupy movement were mentally challenged and had nothing better do to. The truth of the matter is anyone that had a life and a job was busy working while the occupy people were complaining about what they do not deserve.

The Hipster thing to do would be to not get a job and support the occupy wall street movement. However after hearing someone say that, the progressive Hipster would decide that actually getting a job would be the non conformist thing to do rather than to support occupy wall street..

My sons have taken time off of work (yes, they have JOBS), and are marching with their old trac phones in hand (they don't use iPhones) because they feel that the political and economic system in this country is irreparably corrupted. They aren't hippies, hipsters, bums, burnouts or any of the other cruel names being thrown at them. They are trying to make a difference. As for them "getting out" of this country; no chance. They are defending the country that was created to provide a "free and open democracy." OWS gives me some hope for the future.

WRONG...this Nation was NOT created for a "free and open democracy". This Nation was created as a Constitutional Republic. The fact that you people don't understand the difference and WHY the Founders did it the way they did indicates that you have zero comprehension of what America is founded upon.

Why the anger? Why the negativity? I wasn't commenting to nit pick the finer points of history (and yes, friend, I do know what it means to be a Constitutional Republic). I was making a point about the good intentions of the people who are participating in this and other protests against the corruption of the government.
Do you doubt that free speech and an open democracy were part of the original plan for the nation? Again, why are you so angry? What has Occupy done to you?
May I suggest a deep breath, and perhaps a more open mind?

@momshieb – In covering Occupy over the last year it's been my experience that there are many people in the workplace who are sympathetic to some of the rallying cries of the movement, i.e.: reinstate Glass-Steagall, enact sweeping and effective campaign finance reform, enforce Dodd-Frank, overturn the Citizens United decision, reform government so that it is putting the interests of the people first, etc.. But I think there has been a disconnect over the last year between those who rally behind those issues and the process adhered to by the core members of the movement, this 'direct-democracy' consensus building. When I speak with/interview people who are at the center of the movement, the people who organize on a daily basis, I repeatedly hear a rejection of any push to reform our government/political system through traditional methods. There is a loud call for a real revolution among the devoted Occupy organizers/activists. Are people like your sons willing to go that far, to throw out the baby with the bath water, or do they want to reform the system from within? I'm curious. Critics who are sympathetic to Occupy have argued that by choosing to go the route of consensus building and not having a list of achievable goals Occupy has squandered an opportunity effect real change. Thoughts?

As an older person, and a long time political junkie/activist, I am very personally torn about this whole question. My boys, too, struggle with it. I agree that the lack of traditional structure to the movement has made it very difficult for most of us to grasp. I wanted them to make a list of demands and then push them! On the other hand, I think that they are right to reject being brought into the traditional political world of the US, where they would be absorbed into the Democratic Party and made into a bunch of sound bites.
Personally, I think that it is the energy of the outcry, the fact that they are pointing out the real corruption of the system that is giving them some power and influence.

Those of us that also have jobs and love this country will not support this movement and will eventually rise to stand against it if it rears its ugly head again. You wait...you will see the real majority stand up if the time comes when we have heard and seen enough.

Ryan York, it sounds like you are the one who does not like what our country stands for, the right of free speech is what this country was founded upon. I am not going to ask you to leave, I feel it is OK for you to have a different opinion and still be an American., hopefully you will open your eyes and your heart, read the bill of rights again, I think you forgot the important parts.